The Lens
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In 100 AD, glass was invented and people found it fun to look at objects through various sizes and shapes of glass pieces. When they looked through a glass piece that was thick in the center and thinner around the edges, they noticed that objects appeared larger. They named this glass shape the lens, Latin for lentil, which is what they thought it looked similar to.
Flea Glass
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In the 13th century, the first crude microscopes were invented, which were essentially fixed magnifying glasses, multiplying objects six to 10 times. Scientists examined tiny insects with these tools which were therefore called "flea glasses."
The Compound Microscope
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In 1590, a father and son team of spectacle-makers, Hans and Zacharias Janssen, discovered that by putting several lenses in a tube, the object at the end of the tube appeared far more magnified than any single lens could achieve alone. This yielded the invention of the compound microscope.
Telescopes
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Galileo heard of the Janssens' experiments and began to study light rays and lenses and improve upon the first microscopes. These studies also led to his invention of the telescope.
The Modern Microscope
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In the 17th century, Anthony Leeuwenhoek began making tiny lenses with great curvature, creating a microscope that could magnify up to 270 times. Leeuwenhoek was the first to look at microscopic organisms including bacteria and yeast and was called the father of microscopy.
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